Rockford officials: Vacant houses pose fire hazard

ROCKFORD — Fire investigators do not have evidence to link a pair of fires Sunday that sparked just hours and a few blocks apart.

But both were in vacant structures and were “set fires,” Rockford Fire Department Investigator Mike Rotolo said.

“What the intentions were, we don’t know. But obviously someone was trespassing,” he added.

Rotolo hesitates to call the fires works of arson, a term that indicates a structure was lit on fire intentionally as opposed to a cooking fire getting out of control or other accident. Each blaze endangered neighbors and firefighters in what has become too common a fire call.

These recent fires illustrate one of the dangers posed by an estimated 3,300 vacant and abandoned homes scattered across Rockford. The number of vacant structure fires has remained steady over the last several years.

So far this year, 17 of 153 structure fires were at vacant houses. Of the 297 structure fires in Rockford in 2013, 30 were in vacant buildings. In 2012, 26 of the 286 structure fires were in vacant buildings.

Two homeless men who took shelter in an abandoned home in the 400 block of Knowlton Street were killed in an April 7 fire. The fire there may have been set for warmth or cooking, but a cause was never determined.

City officials are working to demolish as many abandoned homes as possible because they tend to fall into disrepair, spread urban decay and sometimes attract vagrants and criminals, said Seth Sommer, a Rockford building code official.

Rockford will spend nearly $1 million from grants and city funding this year to demolish about 100 vacant properties chosen from the roughly 700 that are vacant and condemned because of unsafe living conditions.

The city has 44 vacant houses slated for demolition this summer. An additional 50 are expected to be demolished by November or December.

“They have been a place of crime, illicit acts, police calls, fires, you name it,” Sommer said. “We hope by removing those structures, we will remove some of those issues.”

A house was gutted by fire about 4:30 p.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of Ferguson Street. Firefighters encountered intense heat as they battled the blaze, and one firefighter was treated for a cut on his forehead.

While firefighters were still working on the Ferguson fire, they were called at 7 p.m. to a fire a few blocks away that destroyed an unattached garage and damaged an unoccupied house owned by the Israel of God’s Church, 916 Harding St.

Because the fires were already fully involved when firefighters were called, determining the cause has been difficult, Division Chief Matthew Knott said.

There’s always a risk fires in vacant structure will spread to neighboring houses. Such fires are typically reported by a neighbor or passerby because usually the person at fault runs from the scene. That can mean the fire advances before crews arrive, and evidence gets destroyed, Knott said.

Police are given lists of vacant homes to keep watch during routine patrols. And the city works with property owners to board up or otherwise secure abandoned structures.

Officials also ask residents and neighborhood watch groups to report any suspicious activity at vacant structures.